As more than one million people prepare to travel across the globe to make it back to Ireland just in time for Christmas, we asked readers to share what they are most looking forward to about spending the festive season here.
From the smell of “Mam’s Christmas cake” wafting through the air and Christmas morning beach walks to a mandatory stroll “down Grafton Street, followed by lunch and a pint of Guinness”, the respondents all agree that nothing beats being home in Ireland for Christmas.
Clare King, Stockholm, Sweden
My husband, my son, my daughter and I will travel “home” to Ireland for Christmas from our home in Stockholm, Sweden. I cannot wait to see the lights of Dublin Airport!
As a child, my family made the journey “home” to Kilkee from our home in Tramore every Christmas. The lights of Limerick city were the highlight of those car journeys, where presents, puddings and boxes of USA biscuits were packed in around us as we looked forward to sharing it all with our grandparents. I am, therefore, very familiar with the concept of having two homes. Two places where I feel safe, happy, and loved. Two places where I belong. I feel very lucky.
Sweden and Ireland smell very different at Christmas. Throughout December, we are surrounded by smells of gingerbread and saffron buns. The Christmas markets are wonderfully festive as smells of simmering sweet mulled wine and hot candied almonds waft through the air.
Once we land in Ireland, our senses notice the change and we embrace the delicious smells of sizzling Irish sausages, warm mince pies and the unsurpassable smell (and taste) of my Mam’s Christmas cake. A feast for the senses.
So what am I looking forward to most, you ask. It may sound cheesy, but it is honestly the friendly faces. Open arms welcoming us. Open fires warming us. Open doors into pubs, filled with people open to having chats and the craic! Nothing beats being home for Christmas.
Kieran Paul Osborne, Spain
I usually go over to Belfast to spend Christmas with my brother, Martin, and his wife, Sheila, and back to Madrid to celebrate the new year with my partner Asun. However, I always go and come back via Dublin Airport. My old secondary school pal, Gerry and his wife, Debbie very kindly invite me to stay overnight with them the day I fly in from Madrid.
During the year, each time I get an Irish euro coin in my change, I separate it from the other coins and put it into a little bag in the flat where I live. This year I have amassed a small fortune, so consequently, “The Milky Bars are on me” in Gerry’s local pub this Christmas.
The next day, it’s up to Belfast on the train. Martin and Sheila live next to a local train station, so when I get to Belfast, I just change platforms and before I know it, I’m ringing their doorbell. Across the road from them there is a social club where they organise a weekly pub quiz. I enjoy the craic and it’s nice to be back in the company of their friends again.
As for my own friends, I organise a get-together with them at a social club in the part of Belfast where I grew up. Walking through the door, it’s like I haven’t been away for a whole year. I get all the births, deaths and marriages updates and then it’s the usual banter until it’s time to go home. To some this might seem a rather mundane Christmas, but I thoroughly enjoy it and I haven’t even said anything about Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day, nor have I mentioned the lovely sandwiches that Debbie makes me for the train journey.
Laura Lee, Amsterdam
Eight years ago – having just moved to Amsterdam from London – my mother came to visit me for Christmas. I brought her to ‘midnight’ mass (never actually held at midnight, right?) in a famous church museum in Amsterdam called Our Lord in the Attic. Although a self-proclaimed atheist myself, mothers appreciate mass of a Christmas Eve, so for the greater good ...
Eight years later – still in Amsterdam – and four daughters between us in the meantime, three aged three for her (Pip, Bo and Sam) and one girl of four for me (Penny), we have booked out a full row on a Ryanair flight home to Dublin for Christmas, and ordered Santa outfits for all six of us to mark the occasion.
We are looking forward to spending Christmas at home with our families, and everything that comes with it – home-cooked dinners, nights out with friends, mammies on hand to take care of the kids, lie-ins (hopefully), good craic, terrible weather, fresh air, and most of all time with the family.
Kerry Kessler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
For the past 35 years I’ve lived in a small village in Germany’s Black Forest where the air is crisp, and the landscape is a picturesque blend of tree-covered hills and charming villages. It’s been a beautiful home, rich in nature and history, and a place where my partner and I have built a happy life with our large, blended family. But every year, like clockwork, I come home to Dublin for Christmas. Every year, except one.
Christmas in Dublin, with all its charm, energy, and love, remains something unmatched in my heart. It’s a place where I feel grounded, connected, and filled with joy
That one year was 1990, when my first child, a son, arrived on December 23rd, and the magic of the holiday season adopted a whole new meaning. I stayed in Germany for that Christmas, obviously, and spent Christmas Day in the hospital with my beautiful baby. In the years that followed, my children were raised with the same traditions I had known growing up in Dublin. They too have spent every Christmas in Dublin, making the annual trek back to the heart of the city a true family tradition.
Dublin, to me, has always been more than just a city – it’s home. And there’s something about Dublin at Christmas that no other place can match. Grafton Street, with its festive lights, and everywhere you go, there’s an unmistakable sense of warmth and cheer. The city seems to wear a magical glow, and for a brief time, all the hustle and bustle of life is set aside in favour of celebrating the season.
It’s not just the city itself, but the people – family, friends, and the familiar faces of old haunts – that make it so special. I cherish the feeling of walking through the cobbled streets, stopping by the pub, or catching up with friends. Each corner of Dublin holds memories, each street a reminder of where I come from. There’s a certain magic in the way Dublin transforms in December.
I’m incredibly lucky to have found a second home in Germany. But Christmas in Dublin, with all its charm, energy, and love, remains something unmatched in my heart. It’s a place where I feel grounded, connected, and filled with joy.
Mark Carrigg, Edinburgh, Scotland
It’s been a few years, 2021 to be more specific, since I was actually at home for Christmas Day in Co Clare. I caveat that by saying that I have been very fortunate to be able to get over and back from Scotland many times in between, so I’m definitely not feeling hard done by. That being said, there are certain things you do miss, specifically at Christmas, regardless of the other visits throughout the year.
Dad’s Irish coffees that only get a proper outing on Christmas morning when some friends and neighbours call to the house. A proper pint of Guinness (the UK just can’t get it right) in Ennis Christmas Eve when you bump into half the lads you went to school with and so many others from around the town and county that you might only see once a year. The walk on Lahinch beach that blows off any cobwebs you might have from the night before as the beautifully wild Atlantic Ocean crashes at your feet.
I’ve spent more than a few Christmases abroad at this stage, both in the UK and in Australia, and they’ve all been lovely in their own way for different reasons. However one thing remains impossible to deny, it’s hard to top the collection of little things that makes Christmas at home in Ireland so special.
As the old saying goes, Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin!
Claire Dillon, Germany
We live in southwest Germany close to France and Switzerland. Myself, my husband and three kids love coming home at Christmas. For us it normally begins at the airport in Stuttgart, Christmas jumpers on, along with all the other Irish people eagerly waiting for a flight home. It is so special landing at Dublin Airport at Christmas, the music, the decorations, it’s really emotional to see how many people are so happy coming home and all their family waiting for them.
For us Christmas is somewhere between Balbriggan (Dublin), Kiltimagh (Mayo) and Oranmore (Galway). We can’t wait to see all our family and friends. You cannot compare the warmth or sense of craic at home to anywhere else. To eat some real Irish food, drink a few pints of the black stuff and maybe a chicken fillet roll for the teenagers! Nothing feels more like Christmas than home.
Lorraine Nolan, London, England
We moved to London at the beginning of this year with our three young kids. We are flying into Shannon and looking forward to reuniting with our friends in Co Clare. Then on to family in my hometown of Clonakilty in Cork.
This Christmas will be extra special as our 14-month-old niece Olivia will be visiting from New York. She’ll be spending her first Christmas with our kids, her three first cousins: Anna aged five, Lylagh aged four and Paddy, also 14 months.
Niamh Teeling-Sann, Berlin, Germany
I’m travelling home to Ireland for Christmas with my wife Marisa who is from Berlin, where we now both live. We take it in turns to spend every other Christmas with our families. Last year we were in Berlin, where we hosted Marisa’s family for the first time with our first Christmas tree decorated with real candles. This year we will spend Christmas with my family in Drogheda, Co Louth.
For me, Christmas at home is special because it’s rich with childhood memories. We are looking forward to the nieces and nephews renewing the Christmas wonder at home to make new memories. I always look forward to Christmas dinner, it’s different from how we have it with my German family-in-law. You can’t beat a good roast potato with stuffing and gravy, dinner with all the works! My favourite Christmas tradition is the walk on the beach on Christmas morning.
Brendan Wright, Dublin
My youngest son Chris, his wife Chloe and their three wonderful sons Liam, Declan and Cooper arrive home from Discovery Bay Hong Kong on Saturday, December 21st .
His wife Chloe, who is from New York, loves the atmosphere in Ireland at Christmas time. There will be a great vibe in Dublin city on Christmas Eve where they head early in the morning to grab some last-minute presents, a walk down Grafton Street, followed by lunch and a pint of Guinness. Santa leaves the boys a small present each under the Christmas tree with a note for them saying he has left their main present under the tree in their home in Hong Kong.
On Christmas morning we do a family mile run for Goal before heading to my other son Ken’s in Balbriggan for noon Christmas brunch. Since Chris emigrated in 2008 he has tried to be home in Ireland for Christmas. The only two Christmases he didn’t make it home were during Covid and when his middle son Declan was born six years ago in Vienna.
We have four children and six grandchildren in all and Christmas is a wonderful occasion to bring us all together.
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